Arun Bali

Arun Bali

Saves The Day / Craig Finn & The Uptown Controllers

I can’t say enough great things about the sound / build quality of EarthQuaker Devices. Great takes on classic designs while also forging innovative new ground. Always inspiring to plug one in. Not to mention, the people working there are some of the nicest around, and they appreciate good coffee as much as I do.

<<< EXCERPT FROM OUR INTERVIEW W/ ARUN >>>

When did you start getting into pedals and what part do they play in your sound?

For years and years I just used a Tube Screamer and a Super Overdrive straight into a ’65 Twin, so I was never a huge pedal guy. In my early 20s I started getting more into Brit Pop and shoegaze, and I started to figure out ways to use effects in a more creative way, where it felt unique to me. So in my early to mid 20s, I started adding a delay, then I started seeing more of these boutique companies coming out, and started getting into more fuzzes and started to hear the difference between different transistors, and even different analog delay chips and stuff. I’ve always been kind of a tone hound, so I just went down a rabbit hole with it, and I’ve been going down it ever since. And right now is a super exciting time with all these builders doing unique takes on classic designs but also brand new stuff.

Are you using more pedals in the studio?

Yeah. Tons. That’s a different thing altogether. It can be as wide as it wants to be. I’ve amassed a pretty good collection of EarthQuaker stuff at this point. I’m doing this stoner skate punk side project with one of the guys from Bayside, the guy from Circa Survive, and Dashboard Confessional. It’s called Dirt Wizard. I’m building a board for that. I think it’s just gonna be a Hoof and an Acapulco Gold and two other pedals - super simple and just brutal. When I tried the Acapulco Gold through my Super, I looked at my bass player, Rodrigo, and I was like, ‘Oh fuck yeah! That is burly!’ (laughs)

That cranked Sunn sound. It nails it. And you’ve gotta really put it in front of an amp where the tubes are pushing, but I really like that one a lot. I use the Night Wire a lot in the studio, that’s been getting a lot of use. I write music for commercials so that gets used a lot. For cool weird ethereal stuff, it’s such a neat tremolo.